South Korea’s SK Innovation said Tuesday it will invest $727 million for the construction of its second battery plant in Georgia.

The battery maker will begin construction of its second electric vehicle battery plant with 11.7-gigawatt-hour capacity in Georgia in July and initiate mass production starting 2023, it said.

“While the global community faces challenging times, SK Innovation believes it is important to continue making strategic investments to drive economic growth and meaningful change,” SK Innovation CEO Kim Jun said.

“With this investment, SK Innovation’s battery business will significantly contribute to not only the local Georgia economy but the development of the US EV industry value chain and ecosystem.”

SK Innovation plans to invest a total of $2.5 billion in its US battery business to build two plants at its site in Georgia with a combined annual capacity of 21.5 GWh.

SK Innovation broke ground on the first plant at the Georgia site in March 2019, which is expected to begin mass production in 2022.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)